Partnerships Strengthen NIA Research Programs

The NIA research portfolio is broad based and includes research related to a variety of diseases and conditions relevant to the work of other NIH and outside organizations. This provides us with numerous opportunities to build synergy and leverage resources by partnering with other NIH Institutes and Centers (ICs), other government agencies, academic institutions, and professional and advocacy organizations.

We work closely with a number of other NIH ICs to co-fund research initiatives, support meetings and conferences, and develop educational materials. For example, we:

Co-sponsor funding opportunity announcements across the full range of common programmatic themes.

Collaborate with other NIH ICs on the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research initiatives such as the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award Program and an interdisciplinary program in the behavioral and social sciences.

Partner with other NIH ICs on NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research initiatives.

Co-sponsor the Osteoarthritis Initiative with the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases.

Partner with the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke on the Cognitive and Emotional Health Project.

Support the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation, a study of the menopausal transition, along with the NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health.

Partner with the National Library of Medicine to develop and maintain the NIHSeniorHealth Web site.

NIA also partners with other government agencies on several projects including:

Interagency agreements with the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Social Security Administration for collection and sharing of data through longitudinal studies such as the Health and Retirement Study.

Collaborations with the National Center for Health Statistics, the Census Bureau, and others to compile and disseminate statistical information about aging.

Partnerships to support meetings and conferences such as an international summit on global aging co-sponsored with the Department of State.

NIA’s private-sector partners include:

Nonprofit foundations and advocacy organizations. These include the Alliance for Aging Research, the Alzheimer’s Association, the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation, the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the American College of Sports Medicine, the American Federation for Aging Research, the American Geriatrics Society, the American Society of Hematology, the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, the Friends of NIA, the Gerontological Society of America, the National Coalition for Osteoporosis and Related Bone Diseases, and the Population Association of America and Association of Population Centers.

Pharmaceutical, biotech, and related private-sector companies. These partnerships make tissues and other specimens, microarrays, rodent models, and other research resources available to investigators and support major initiatives such as the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, a joint effort involving NIA, the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, non-profit groups, and a number of pharmaceutical and biotech companies.

NIA also works closely with collaborators outside the United States to support studies to better understand the aging experience on a global level. For example, in the ongoing SardiNIA study, Italian and NIA intramural investigators have a unique opportunity to identify genetic and other risk factors for aging-associated conditions in a very stable population on the secluded island of Sardinia in the Mediterranean. NIA also co-funds more than two dozen cross-national, aging-related datasets and single-country studies of aging with partners like the World Health Organization.